A Hero's Tale
by Justyce15
Summary: Sequel to Tale of Assassins: Now that they are free of their respective masters what will Dick and Artemis do? And what does Batman want with them? And Why is Mr. Freeze so important to Dick's survival?
1. New Beginnings

**A/N: **So this is the sequel Tale of Assassins, a lot of people wanted this so I decided to write it! The last two chapters will be pretty dark, because I may be killing one of the main characters. I have not completely decided yet but still, just a warning, again, it is the second in a trilogy. Enjoy the story! R&R!

**A Hero's Tale**

**Chapter 1: New Beginnings**

It had been almost a year since the Court of Owls had been destroyed. Dick Grayson and Artemis Crock had been living together in the former home of Joseph Powers. Which he had acquired illegally, but Bruce Wayne had decided to be generous and pay for the entire thing.

"Hey," Artemis asked her boyfriend, Dick, "Can you pass me the ketchup. When eating unhealthy food it's always best to try get what every type of vegetable or fruit you can."

No answer.

"Hello?" she spoke confused, it was like he was in his own little world, "Earth to bird boy. Are you still in there?"

"We're being watched," He spoke as if he had not heard what she had said, "Somebody is watching us right now," He was fixated on what little pane of glass in the window, "Pass me the knife right now," this was not a request, it was a command, "Do it. NOW!"

Artemis quickly passed him the knife scared of his tone, and as soon as she removed her hand from the knife, the glass behind her broke. **BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG **The machine gun fired continuously, but never making contact with flesh.

Dick saw five men out of the corner of his eye, but he assumed there would be more of them. He threw the knife and hit one of the men right in the heart. The other four men took one look at the dead body and rushed on our position. Dick jumped up knocking two of their heads together, killing them both, blood coming out of their skulls. **BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG FWSSHHH **Suddenly two arrows were coming out of each of the other two intruder's body.

"They're probably League of Shadows," Artemis spoke after a minute of silence, "Still want me to come back."

"We have to move," Dick spoke, looking up at her, "We have to stay one step ahead of them."

"I agree," A voice spoke out of the shadows, and as the voice spoke, Batman stepped out of the very same shadows.

"I told you to leave us alone!" Dick yelled at him, "It was part of our deal!"

"Surely paying for this fine establishment should grant me a short conversation," Batman spoke, eyes narrowing.

"You have 5 minutes," Dick spoke again not happy at all.

"What do you want?" Artemis asked, not sharing Dick's anger and trepidation.

"I want you to join my team of heroes," Batman asked, removing his cowl to show his honesty.

"We're not heroes," Dick said with much more malice than he intended, "We're killers."

"No. You were killers," Batman said, trying to justify his position.

"We just killed five people," Artemis said, "So..."

"No. Well you..." He was clearly trying articulate, but also failing, "Yes, you have killed people, but you do not have the mentality of killers. You have the mentality of heroes. Not because of what you say, but because of what you do, that's what makes you a hero."

"You done you're inspiring speech?" Artemis said in a snarky manner, "Because I'd say it was in the top 5 of speeches that I've heard. But, then again most of the speeches were about how I should kill someone. So... Yeah..."

"I'm not telling you," He said restating his point, "I'm asking you because I think you would be good at it. You can say no. But if you change your mind, you know where to find me." With that he vanished

"I actually have no idea where to find him," Artemis said concerned.

"I do."


	2. Diseased

**A/N:** I told you I haven't forgot about this story, so here is chapter 2, there is some mild language in this chapter, and I have now decided who will die.

**A Hero's Tale**

**Chapter 2: Diseased**

"Dick?" Artemis asked, it had been two days since Bruce had made the offer and neither of them had said anything about it, "Are you sure we made the right decision?"

"With what?" Dick asked, and then he realized what she was talking about, "Can we not talk about this?"

"We need to at some point," Artemis pleaded, "We might as well do it now."

"Look," Dick decided to level with her, "I have something I have to do right now, but after I get back we'll talk, ok?"

"Ok," Artemis said and Dick walked out of the apartment.

"He's cute," Cheshire said revealing her presence, "I see why you picked him."

"Why are you here?" Artemis sneered at her sister.

"Daddy wants to talk to you," Cheshire smiled her signature smile.

"He's too scared to come himself," Artemis laughed sarcastically, "Tell him to go fuck himself."

"Hah," Cheshire laughed, "I thought you might say something like that."

"If he comes back," Artemis threatened, "I will kill him."

"I wouldn't expect anything less of you sis," Cheshire smiled, "But just hear me out."

"You have 2 minutes," Artemis sneered, covertly picking up a knife.

"The council is impressed with you and your boyfriend on the team," Cheshire said, angrily, obviously jealous of her sister's success, "You guys might be the replacement the enforcers."

"You're the second offer I've had to turn down this week," Artemis sneered at her sister, "Jade, this is the much less appealing of the two."

"You're killers," Jade said lifting her arm, and when she dropped it there was a flash of smoke and she was gone, "And you're going to have to face it sooner or later."

* * *

"Richard Grayson," the Nurse stepped into the waiting room, "Dr. Thompkins will see you now."

"Thank you," Dick said as he stood up and walked through the open door, " Dr. Thompkins thanks for seeing me."

"Please, call me Leslie," Dr. Thompkins smiled, "And it's no trouble at all. So you had an MRI and you would like to see what the results yielded," Dick nodded confirming, "So it appears that the MRI has yielded nothing."

"Good," Dick smiled standing.

"Not good," Leslie looked serious, "We couldn't find anything because your lungs and stomach are frozen on the inside. You shouldn't be breathing, you should be dead, and you will be soon."

"How soon?" Dick was freaked, I mean how was he going to tell Artemis.

"2-3 weeks at most. I'm sorry, I know it's not easy to hear."

"No, it's not," Dick got up again to leave, "But thank you anyway."

20 minutes Dick was walking to his car in the Hospital Parking lot. How will he tell Artemis, does he tell Artemis, how would he want to hear that he was dying?

**NEXT: DEATHSTROKE**

**A/N:** So I have no idea if my science works out and I really don't care. And I will not be putting a **NEXT **section at the end of all my stories starting now. I hope you liked this chapter, because there will be much more to come.


End file.
